Thomas Boyd/The OregonianOregon coach Vin Lananna, pictured here in 2010 next to the championship trophies for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Theboth went to Texas A&M. The Aggies also swept in 2009 and 2011.

The USTFCCCA release accompanying the season's first set of outdoor track & field rankings points out that the women's preseason No. 1 has won the NCAA Division I outdoor title in each of the last four years.

The Oregon Ducks are No. 1 in this week's women's rankings. So, if precedent means anything, the UO women are in position for their first outdoor title since 1985.

It's been a long wait, made more aggravating by the UO women's second-place finishes in each of the past three seasons. The Oregon men were second in 2009 and third in 2010.

By any objective measure, Oregon coach Vin Lananna's seven-year tenure in Eugene has been successful, even remarkable.

The Oregon women are three-time reigning NCAA indoor champions. The UO men won the 2009 NCAA indoor title. The Ducks won men's NCAA cross country championships in 2007 and 2008.

The Ducks have danced away with the past five men's outdoor conference titles, and the last three women's outdoor conference titles.

This while Lananna was helping direct the smashingly successful 2008 Olympic Trials, and overseeing preparations for the 2012 Olympic Trials.

The one thing missing from Lananna's resume at Oregon is an outdoor team track & field championship.